


In Which Chess Is Absolutely Definitely Not A Dog

by LactoseFreeVanillaYoghurt



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Canon, THE TAGS, hospitals tw, injury tw, let them be happy 2k21, oh god this is the worst bit of any fic, right okay, she/they Kate because its my fic and I make the rules hA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29693979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LactoseFreeVanillaYoghurt/pseuds/LactoseFreeVanillaYoghurt
Summary: Kate sends Chess dog photos for no reason and, despite the craziness of it, it makes Chess smile.
Relationships: Chess & Kate (We Are The Tigers)
Kudos: 14





	In Which Chess Is Absolutely Definitely Not A Dog

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on tumblr first inspired by a hc from @alltheworldsapaige (I think they're @practically_paige on here go read her fics they're so good aaaa) anyway ye I liked it so Here You Go :D

_**Katherine™ sent you a photo.** _

**Katherine™:** this dog looks like you

Chess looked down at her phone from where it buzzed beside her laptop. She raised an eyebrow and instinctively typed out a response.

**uno:** What the fuck.

And then she looked at the image. She blinked, got up off her bed, walked over to her mirror and stared at herself. In what she would later call a 'moment of weakness', she raised the dog picture to show next to her face. Her phone buzzed again.

**Katherine™:** you haven't denied it tho

**uno:** Kate, I do not look like that fucking dog what the hell

**uno:** There. That's my denial.

_**Katherine™ sent you a photo.** _

**Katherine™:** yea but you look more like the dog than i do

Chess looked in disbelief at the most recent picture. It was Kate, grinning at the camera, beanie pulled low over their face and looking very much like a little shit. She shook her head.

**uno:** Just because I look more like the dog than you do, does not mean that either of us actually look like the dog

**Katherine™:** ...

**Katherine™:** whatever

-

Chess had thought that the dog picture was a one-off. But no. Gradually, more and more pictures clogged up her phone storage, until a minimum of one dog picture was sent a day. After the first few weeks, she began to wonder where all these dogs came from.

"I just find them and then take a picture." Kate shrugged nonchalantly.

"....So essentially these are random dogs you see on the street?"

"Yep!"

"Do the owners know you're taking a picture of their dog?"

Kate stopped picking at her nail varnish to look mildly sheepish, "Well... No...."

"Kate!"

"What?! I've only gotten shouted at once!"

"Oh my god." Chess slung an arm around her friend's shoulders, leaning her weight on them. "I can't believe you."

"Yeah, cool, love you too."

-

Chess found out that Kate was in hospital not from her friend themselves, but from the Tigers group chat.

**Cairo:** hi @uno idk if you know but kate's been taken to hospital she fell at practice

Chess was out of the door in minutes. She longer cared about her own exhaustion from a day of Olympics press, instead running on fear-fuelled adrenaline. The ride to the hospital was so easy it felt almost surreal and she found herself sweet-talking a nurse into letting her into the ward before she'd properly registered the situation. Her mind ran on overdrive, pictures of Kate hooked up to multitudes of machines or pale and upset, stuck to a hospital bed creating a silent movie behind her eyelids. What she was greeted with wasn't quite so soap opera-esque as she'd imagined but still broke her heart nonetheless. Kate was curled in a ball, the wrist in plaster resting gingerly beside them, eyes shut tight. Chess approached quietly, smiling when Kate opened her eyes at the footsteps.

"Checkers!" Kate's voice was quiet and sleepy. The other girl laughed at the thought of big tough angry Kate now soft from the pain medication.

"Hello Katherine." Chess sat beside her on the bed, "What the hell did you do this time?"

Kate leaned into Chess' hip, still cradling the broken wrist. "See, I don't even know. I just fell and then _fucking Annleigh_ was calling a fucking ambulance."

Chess rubbed their back, frowning, "Why haven't you been released yet? Surely they should just send you home after setting your wrist?"

"Mmmff." Kate wriggled around for a bit and then spoke up again, their voice muffled by the duvet. "Apparently I went into shock. They want to keep me here for "observation". Prob'ly so I don't, like, have a heart attack or something."

"Jesus."

She watched as Kate flopped onto her back, squeezing their eyes shut again. After only a few seconds, she sat up abruptly, eyes wide and panicked. "No!"

Chess went back to being on high alert - at this rate she'd be the one having the heart attack. "What? Are you okay? Kitkat, what happened?"

"I didn't get to send you your dog picture!!" Kate's voice was distraught, their eyes teary.

Chess looked at her. Kate looked back. Then she began to laugh. Kate looked mildly offended. "Kate. You-" Laughter cut her off and the teen in question dug an elbow into her side. "You broke your wrist and all you care about is my dog picture?! You don't even like dogs!"

"Yeah, but you do!!"

Chess snorted. "I'm allergic, Kate, I don't like them that much."

Kate looked baffled and blinked up at her. "Oh." They began to laugh too, the hysteria increased by the looks sent by other members of the ward. "Not gonna stop sending them though."

"Okay, Kitkat, you do you, boo."

-

_**Katherine™ sent you a photo.** _

**Katherine™:** if we got a dog it would look like this

**uno:** I thought you didn't like dogs

**Katherine™:** i don't

**Katherine™:** but look at its face

**uno:** That dog looks like Annleigh

**Katherine™:** annleigh can't look like a dog she's a horse girl

**uno:** You make no sense

**Katherine™:** agree with me tho our dog would look like this

**Katherine™:** it's a big dog

**uno:** .....Is that it.

**Katherine™:** ye

**uno:** Kate, that's a great dane, I don't think you'd be able to see over it

**Katherine™:** why am i still friends with you when all you do is insult my height

**uno:** Awww but it's such a fun way to spend my time!!!!!

**Katherine™:** you're never getting a dog photo again

That was a lie. In fact, it was such an intense lie, that Kate sent _two_ dog photos the next day. Chess only laughed and patted them on the head, if only to accentuate the height difference.

-

_**uno sent you a photo.** _

**uno:** Woof.

**Katherine™:** hOW dAre you

**Katherine™:** this is MY thing and you come and steal it??????

**Katherine™:** blocked.

**Katherine™:** banished.

**Katherine™:** disowned.

_**uno sent you a photo.** _

**uno:** Meow?

**Katherine™:** now this i can support

**Katherine™:** unblocked

**Katherine™:** hugged

**Katherine™:** loved

**uno:** Lovely.

-

It had been going so well. Training was as hard as ever but her coaches seemed pleased, and she was doing okay all in all. The Olympics were set for almost a month away and her days were spent either looping that one damn stunt, organising travel or attending yet another press interview. It was tiring, really, and even though she'd been given time off school for the competition, the days were still long and the hours draining. She hadn't been home in a week, with her base now elsewhere in the state, somewhere that her coach said would _'optimise training abilities'._ Chess told herself that it would be over soon and that she was seventeen now and that she should be able to spend a week away from her friends, away from Kate, without feeling so lonely. God, how would she deal with college if she couldn't stand even a week away from that one friend?

Maybe she'd just been exhausted, or maybe her body had wished too hard for a way out, but she'd fallen. She felt her knee twist beneath her, pain shooting through her leg, and then she'd hit the floor. Within seconds there were people crowding around her, shouting for an ambulance, holding her with such care that she wanted to scream.

Her mind filled with static as she obeyed each command given and answered all the questions shot at her. One clear thought stayed present through the pain - _if Kate was here, my knee would be fine._ It was ridiculous to think that one person could heal what would later be discovered to be a horrifically serious injury, but in that moment, Chess was convinced that Kate could have fixed her broken world.

Instead, she shut her mouth and stared up at the ceiling. _Fuck._

Surgery passed in a blur. Later, she wondered if this was how Kate had felt that one time they'd broken their wrist. Alone, cold, and hazy with pain.

Her phone buzzed by her side at the same moment that the door to her room opened.

_**Katherine™ sent you a photo.** _

Chess looked at the photo. It was a dog, one leg in a tiny animal cast, the owner visible near the top of the image, a smile etched on their face.

**Katherine™:** this dog looks like you

She looked away from her phone and up at the figure who'd entered the room. She smiled, finally, and Kate smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> maggie is this good enough for you


End file.
